Monthly Archives: September 2013

Most of the work at Antaiji is done by hand, but for threshing the rice we use a machine. the one that we used yesterday was presented to us by the Kubota store in Hamasaka ten years ago. Although it started without problems yesterday morning, the engine seems to have not enough power to thresh the rice anymore.
Therefore we changed the torn belt in a different machine this morning. this one we bought about five years ago on Yahoo Auctions (for about 100 dollars), and it is not exactly reliable either, but hopefully it will serve us well today.

Eko-san and Ellie started threshing today. They will be busy with their job tomorrow as well.

In the vegetable field, Yudai-kund and Hirukawa-kun are digging sweet potatoes. It makes them hungry for tempura they say.

We had lots (more than 100) of new strawberry offshoots from the 12 plants that we planted in May in the herb garden. Here, Hiromi from Mexico and German Steffi can be seen making beds for a new strawberry field.

These guys seem to be just sitting around, but actually it is them who are doing the “real work” today: Building a new stone wall in the area where we plan to extend the rice field next year. the finished wall will be about 4 meters high, so they need to do a good job to prevent it from crumbling. Tsukan from Oregon, Daniel from Germany, and Gusho-san and Takeo-kun do their best.

Behind the main hall, East German Shoko is supposed to be working as well. Here, he can be seen walking around with a camera. What is he aiming at? Me?

Today, JIsui from Singapore is standing in the kitchen. Did she read Yudai’s mind?

Seikan was the first monk ordain after I became the abbot 12 years ago. It was his first visit in four years, and he could stay for only one night. Let him talk for himself:

After returning to Australia nine years ago, he started a Zen group and is also running a “Zen Hospice” in Melbourne. When I visited there two years ago, he asked me to bring kapok for stuffing meditation cushions from Japan, but it was confiscated by the otherwise very friendly customs stuff at the airport. When Seikan left, he again took some kapok with him. Let’s hope he is more successful smuggling than I was.

Breakfast is called “shukuza” in Japanese Zen monastery, which can loosely be translated as the “gruel session”. In Antaiji though, we have brown rice, miso soup and two side dishes for breakfast, to give us the strength necessary for samu. Here you can see us recite part of the morning chant:

High noon on a free day at Antaiji, September 21st 2013

Back in Antaiji, the first rice field has been harvested. The sounds that you can hear at the beginning of the video are the voices of dear that can be heared a lot in autumn, especially in the morning hours. They are in heat during this time of the year.

To make the best use of the nice weather we have these days, we got up and started with the harvest first thing this morning at 5am, before sun rise.. The plan is to finish the first field by tonight, allowing us to do a one day sesshin tomorrow. The other two fields still need time for the rice to ripen.

Ante from Australia is leaving Antaiji today. After dropping him off at Tottori station, I am checking in at the airport to go to Tokyo.

Four of us went to help with the rice harvest at a different temple in Tottori prefecture today. Therefore, Antaiji’s harvest will have to wait for another day. Yesterday we harvested only about 20% of the southern rice field. The rest is planned foo tomorrow.

Shoko from Germany, who can be seen wiping the floor in the video above, has a Google+ account with many Antaiji pictures:

Also, a radio crew came today for an interview. It will be broadcast in the Kansai area on October 12th and 19th, 7am to 7:15 (558Khz). Some pictures might be uploaded shortly on the interviewers FB page: